Gary Dale’s, Midwest City, OK

I used to eat at Gary Dale’s BBQ more than 10 years ago, when it was in a former gas station at MLK and Reno. I liked the BBQ OK, but not the sauce, which was very odd to me (like a mustard/vinegar base). The place disappeared at some point. A couple weeks ago, I ran into a guy at Braum’s who was wearing a Gary Dale’s T-Shirt, and he told me that the place had opened again.

Today at lunch a couple work friends and I headed there for lunch. It’s close to work, just a half block east of Douglas and 29th. I got a two meat combo, with chopped beef and BBQ chicken. The chopped beef was excellent, tender and not fatty, and there was quite a lot of it. The chicken. There was a lot of it also, a quarter chicken. The thigh was excellent, juicy and flavorful. The breast was also pretty good, but got dry towards the outside to the middle; there wasn’t nearly as much flavor in it. The two sides were green beans (with bacon and onion, excellent), and pinto beans (good). The BBQ sauce was a decent deep red sauce that had a low bite to it.

The iced tea was excellent, in both sweetened and straight versions. The restaurant was only about1/3 full when we were there (about 1110 – 1155). My check was $16.12.

I noticed that the daily special was fried chicken.

This evening, after work, school, and piano lessons, Raegan mentioned that she would like some fried chicken. I mentioned Gary Dale’s, and so off we went.

For my second meal of the day there, I got a CFS. It was breaded up right there. It was pretty good. The breading was a bit sweet, and didn’t adhere 100% to the meat. I’d rank the CFS as an 8. I got green beans and mashed potatoes. Those and the gravy were pretty good. Erin got a pair of grilled cheese sandwiches, and ate both of them. Raegan got the fried chicken, and said it was good. Ian got a half rack of ribs, and pronounced them excellent. I had one, it was a big rib with quite a lot of meat on it; I would rate the rib as a 9 on a scale of 1 to JTs.

Gary Dale’s was about 50% full when we got there at 1807; it was the same at 1850 when we left. Our check was $52.87.